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Topic: Week of August 15, 2011---mission/vision statements What did I learn? I learned the difference between mission and vision statements and why they both are important to a business/company. What did I find interesting? Learning about how and why Borders failed was interesting to me. What questions do I still have? 1) How much of an impact did opening superstores have on Borders?

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Topic: Week 4: Shareholder values/ Finances What did I learn? I learned that a company's assets are the things that a company owns and liabilities are the things a company owes. I also learned what a blance sheet is and what it is used for. What did I find interesting? I found it interesting that company's use this information to further their business' success. They use the information in their balance sheet to configure the total costs and earning of their business. What questions do I still have? 1) What is the "Cash Conversion Cycle" (in detail)?

Week 6: This week we learned about trends in society. I learned that technology plays a major role in the way businesses and company's conduct their business and advertise to their consumers. The way technology has changed and the speed of that change can sometimes make it hard for company's to accurately advertise to consumers. I also learned that more people spend more time gaming than they do checking their email. This is also interesting to me because I would figure that people's lives would revolve around email nowadays. Another thing I found interesting is the "Give me the Skinny" website. This website has all the demographic information for a specific town/area code. This website can be very helpful for companyies who are located in a specific area. It gives information about the different age groups, the racial make up and so much more. All of this information can be helpful when businesses are trying to advertise in a specific area.

Week of October 3, 2011 (Week 7 - Market Research) This week, we learned about consumer research. One thing I learned this week was how much time, money and thought goes into researching whether a product will be liked by the people or not. For example, it can take up to 2 years before a product is ever introduced to the public. Another thing I learned is that close to $1 million goes into consumer research. Something I found interesting was how many surveys go into this research process. There are different surveys and questions that are asked at different steps in the consumer research process. Something else I found interesting was how many times a group may have to go back and change things about their new product(s) to appeal to the public. For example, when "Food For Thought" was a bust, the team went back and changes things about the product that the public didn't really like in order to make it more appealing to the people.

Week of October 10, 2011 (Week 8- Market Analysis) This week we learned about market analysis. Something I learned was that the marketing analysis process also takes alot of time (several months). Companies have to go out and collect as much data as they can about their potential customers. They can do this by observing their buying habits and how much money they are willing to spend. I also learned that the Mexican taste pallet is quite different from our own, American pallets. In Mexico, they have more of a taste for harder candy with a kick (whether it be sour or spicy). Something I found interesting is that even in Mexico, their favorite candy is the cookies n' creme bar. This is interesting to me because I would have thought that the Mexican consumer wouldn't have very much interest in something so "plain". But it must be the textures and the make-up of the cookie n' creme bar. Because something else that I found interesting was that the Mexican costomer likes different textures and flavors in their food. I'm not 100% sure why that is, but it is what it is.

Week of October 17, 2011 (Week 9- Product Development) This week we learned about product development. Product development is important to a company's success. This is because if a comapny doesn't conduct the proper research, then their new product(s) will most likely fail. Also, there are certain things that customers are looking for in certain products. For example, if something isn't quite to their liking, they won't buy it. I learned how important it is for companies to create and innovate new products. This is because customers are always looking for the "next, new big thing". Also, I learned that Hershey tired competing with Jello for a pudding brand. And they lost (obviously).

Week of October 24, 2011 (Week-10 Trial Production) This past week, we went to one of the Hershey Co. plants. There we saw rooms that were specifically dedicated to certain aspects and tasks of researching, testing and making some of Hershey's products (on a small scale). We saw the flavor room, where all of the flavors for Hershey products comes from. And we saw a whole set of rooms dedicated to making Reeses's Pieces.

Week of October 31, 2011 (Week 11- Branding) This week we learned about producty branding. I learned that product branding is a customer's personal feelings and relationship to a product. I found it interesting that people can be more willing to buy name brand products, especially if the products are for a special or family event. Also, it's interesting how much a customer can like a product based on price, image and trust. I also learned that products can fail based on whether or not customers are willing to try the new product or if they want to stick with the product they already love and trust.

Week of December 5, 2011 (Week 15- Product Safety) This week we learned about product safety. I learned that there are a lot of things that go into making a product safe for consumers. If there is any one little thing wrong, the product cannot be sold. I also learned about the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The CPSC is the group of people that companies need to report faulty products to so they can be taken care of and handled appropriately. It was interesting to learn about the different recalls that have happened in recent years. Also, it was interesting to hear that Hershey hasn't had any major recalls recently and their most recent recall was because there was a possibility that some of their Pieces products could contain pieces of metal. There hadn't been any complaints, but it was a precautionary action.

Week of December 12, 2011 (Week 16- Product Components) How do product components effect businesses?? Product components can effect businesses because if the prices of the business' main/important components increase, the company is going to have to rethink how it spends its money. For example, if the price of cocoa beans increases (especially by a lot) Hershey Co. is going to have to most likely have to increase the price of their chocolate products to accomodate the rise in price for cocoa beans. Also, Hershey may also have to consider where this extra money is going to come from if they choose not to raise their prices; whether they cut back on advertising or raise prices on products that are extremely low to begin with.

Week of January 3, 2012 (Week 17-Packaging) This week we learned about product packaging and the different types of packaging. I learned that a lot more goes into packaging then I thought. Color, design, font and words on the packaging that important to grabbing the customer's attention. I also learned that more then one group within a company works on the packaging of products. Something I found interesting was the different creative types of packaging. For example, Nestle makes ice cream bobblers which act as an ice cream container and then a toy for children when they're finished. I also found it interesting that only a small percentage of customers plan on going to the store to buy candy.

Week of January 9, 2012 (Week 18-Product Planning) This week we learned about product planning. There are many different types of product planning. There is the chase strategy, made to stock, made to order, and assemble to order. A companies products will determine which planning strategy they use. I found it interesting that there are many different planning strategies; I never realized that there were multiple kinds. I also learned that sometimes companies have to produce extra product a few weeks before they are needed in order to keep up with what inventory they need, without over working their employees.

Week of January 16, 2012 (Week 19 - Production) This week we learned about Production. I learned how Reeses are made. I also learned how sunflowers are made. I found it interesting to learn what all goes into making a Reeses peanut butter cup. I also found it interesting to see the machines in the plant at work and to see just how early they start producing Easter candy.

Week of January 23, 2012 (Week 20- Warehousing) This week I learned about warehousing and what exactly goes on within a warehouse. I always used to think that warehouses just stored products and I never thought about how the prodcuts got from the warehouse to the customers/consumers. I found it fun to go to an actual warehouse and see a small part of it and the prospect that in a few weeks we will be going back to that same warehouse to see the actual warehouse part. What I found boring was the part where we sat in that meeting room for almost an hour and a half and just sat and listened to them talk. There was no interaction or activity to keep us engaged. To improve this experience I would incorporate some type of hands-on activity or maybe a few activities to keep people interested and engaged.

Week 21-Order Managment

Order Managmant Process: Step One: How orders are taken Orders are taken/recieved by telephone, fax, e-mail, Web, EDI or VMI. The orders come in and they are then entered into the company's order system. Businesses have many options in which they can order their products, which allows orderig flexibility for the compnay selling the products and the businesses buying the products. Having all of these ways to order products allows every type of business, from mom-and-pop shops to corporations like WalMart, to order the products they want/need in the easiest way(s) that are allowed by their company. Step Two: Order Entry The company's order managment system will automatically check sources, prices, credit limits and allocated supply based on ATP when putting an order into the sytem. If there is a problem, it will be flagged. There are special people incharge of cracking down on flagged items and working out the kinks in the orders. These people work very diligently to find solutions. Step Three: Managment by Exception Some items may be flagged if there is a problem, such as a price check or special requirements that cause the order to be held up. Customer service is responsible for taking care of orders with flagged items. Step Four: ATP ATP stands for Available to Promise, which is a shipping system that uses FIFA within a cycle time. ATP is used to reduce, delay or redirect customer orders. And is used to maximize a trucks shipping capacity, trying to fill as much of the air space in the truck as they can. For example, one 48" truck can hold 4.2 million kisses. Step Five: Transportation When the order has been cleaned up of all flags, an order notice gets sent to the transportation planning system. Transportation planning is started 48 hours before shipping time. If there is ever a problem with transporation, such as a truck getting a flat tire or being stuck in traffic, the warehouse is in charge of talking to the transportation coordinator and if need be, contacting the customer to work something out with them; whether itbe pushing back the delivery time or making a whole new appointment.

Week 22-Distribution Three themes that warehousing, order management and distribution all have in common is logistics, communication and organization. Logistics is getting something from point A to point B. This can be done by using different means of transportation: trucks, boats, planes, trains, etc. This can also refer to how things are set up inside of a warehouse. Communication is another theme because without communication warehouses would be a mess, ordering would disfunctional and products would not be able to be distributed properly because no one would know where the products need to go. The last theme is organization. Products within a warehouse are organized in a specific way so that it is more time and energy efficient; with the more popular items on the ends and the co-pack products closer to the co-packing area. Withour organization, there is no order management because orders would be coming in and there would be no system in place to organize them and set them up for delivery. And if the products cannot be ordered properly, then they cannot be distributed properly and effciently.

Week 23-Public Relations Public relations is the part of a company that promotes the company when something negative happens within, toward or about the business. They are responsible for making the company look good and making sure the company doesn't lose any of its credibility. PR is different from advertising because advertising is paid for by the company to promote the business and their product(s) and/or service(s). PR is when a representative from the company talks to and releases information to the media via TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and, more widely used now, the Internet. Social media has become a large part of PR, acting as a 2-way street for communication between customers/consumers and the company. I actually cannot say if I am more interested in one over the other because I like marketing, which ties into advertising. But marketing also ties into PR work. You have to be good at marketing the company to be a good PR agent.

Week 24- Advertising My impression of advertising is that there is a mixture of hard work and creativeness that need to work together in order to make an advertisment successful. There are many stages that an idea for an ad has to go through and many times those ideas get shot down and they need to go back to the "drawing board". I found it interesting to learn about the type of people that Hershey uses for the creatice side of advertising. David said that these people were a little weird and sometimes even questionable on their sanity. They could be tattooed from head to toe and sometimes not even wear a shirt to work. These people are secluded from the rest of the company and have their own rooms where they work. I would probably consider a career in advertising mainly because it is so closely tied to marketing, but works more with the creatice piece of advertising, which I like.

Week 25-Product Placement This week I learned about product placement and the importance of where products are located on the shelves. I learned that the "golden zone" is typically the eye level part of the shelves. But it can depend on the products trying to be sold. For example, children's cereal is sold more if placed at the waist level and adult cereal is sold more if placed at eye level. And in the case of selling beer, the "golden zone" is the middle of the cooler. I found it interesting to learn how little time is spent in each aisle and how short of time it takes customers to decide if they're going to purchase a product or not.